A new way to prop up Ohio fossil fuels

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Midwest Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

UTILITIES

• A new Ohio law prohibits settlement agreements that involve the early closure of ​“base load” power plants, and advocates say it’s likely to prop up fossil fuel-burning electricity sources that are more expensive than clean energy. (Canary Media)

• Ohio regulators prepare to start hearings on the HB 6 scandal, as the state’s consumer advocate hopes to demonstrate whether FirstEnergy used ratepayer money to bribe state officials. (Ohio Capital Journal)

CLEAN ENERGY

• An Illinois bill meant to spur renewable energy and battery storage development fails to pass after business groups raised concerns about potentially billions of dollars in additional costs. (Chicago Sun-Times)

• The U.S. Energy Department’s move to cancel 24 clean energy grants includes $170 million for Chicago-based Kraft Heinz and $75 million for a beverage maker with a facility in Illinois. (Chicago Sun-Times)

STORAGE

• Wisconsin’s first large-scale, solar-powered battery storage project is operational and can power more than 130,000 homes for up to four hours. (Journal Sentinel)

GRID

• Consumers Energy proposes a $436 million rate increase in Michigan, which the state attorney general says could be one of the utility’s largest in history, to continue its long-term grid reliability plan. (MLive)

PIPELINES

• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ draft environmental analysis found that a proposed Line 5 tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac could destroy wetlands and bat habitats but eliminate risks of a boat anchor hitting and rupturing the line. (Associated Press)

SOLAR

• Heliene cuts the ribbon on a new solar module manufacturing plant outside Minneapolis, increasing the company’s total U.S. manufacturing capacity to 1.3 GW annually. (Solar Power World)

• Ann Arbor, Michigan, officials approve contracts for solar installations at three city-owned facilities as part of the city’s ongoing emissions-reduction strategy. (MLive)

BIOFUELS

• A federal bill backed by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota to incentivize biofuel-based sustainable aviation fuel has some environmental groups worried that the process could increase carbon emissions. (Star Tribune)

COMMENTARY

• A recently approved 174-mile transmission project represents a vital improvement to Minnesota’s grid infrastructure and will ensure grid reliability ahead of a large coal plant closure, a rural affairs advocate writes. (Detroit Lakes Tribune)

NEW FROM CANARY

• President Trump celebrates the planned acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, but the terms of the deal are still opaque, and could extend the life of existing dirty, coal-fired blast furnaces, Alexander C. Kaufman reports.

• Republicans’ budget bill threatens Inflation Reduction Act tax credits, which have led to at least 21,000 jobs in Virginia, many of them in Republican congressional districts, Charles Paullin reports.